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 DIOCESE OF NIAGARA. 
 
 SELECTIONSr 
 
 —FROM THE— 
 
 iiiii 91 III ifii it 
 
 OF NIAGARA. 
 
 Delivered at the Annual Session of the Synod *of the 
 
 • Diocese of Niagara, on the 31 st May, 1881, i^nd 
 
 unanimously ordered by the Synod to tie 
 
 printed and distributed throughout 
 
 the Diocese. 
 
 .■'.-w'li^ 
 
 .//• HAMILTON, ONT. : 
 
 ENNIS AND STIRTON, VRINTERS, l6 MAIN sT. EAST, COR. HUGHJiON. 
 
 I88l. 
 
 uASt iJn. 
 
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 ■' •."'• HAMILTON PUBLIC \mm. 
 
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 / 
 
 INSTRUCTION IN REGARD TO THE PRINCIPLES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 I have already urged upon my clerical brothers the duty of 
 thoroughly instructing those whom they purpose presenting foi 
 confirmation in all things they ought to know, in connection with 
 that apostolic rite ; but I feel that our clergy should go a good 
 deal further. I fear that there is amongst our people, both old 
 and young, great ignorance in regard to the Church of God. 
 A great many persons in our communion, and almost the whole 
 Protestant body outside our communion, are in entire ignorance 
 of the English Church's existence prior to the time of Henry VIII. 
 of England, anci consequently are forced to the conclusion that our 
 Church, under that monarch, separated from the Church of Rome, 
 just as the Wesleyan Methodists separated from our Church in the 
 last century, with no more authority for doing so ; and that, there- 
 fore we were equally guilty of schism. 
 
 We do not look to our public schools for instruction on the all 
 important subject of religion. Because, alas ! such is the divided 
 state of Christianity in our country, that our public school teachers 
 could not be satisfactorily intrusted with that paramount duly. 
 Others, therefore, must perform it. Those, to whom we have a 
 right to look for the performance of this great duty, are the parents, 
 sponsors and spiritual pastors of the members of the Church. 
 Would to God ! that the old, goodly custom of catechising were 
 revived amongst us. I firmly believe that such a course of instruc- 
 tion would be far more serviceable than most of the sermons now 
 delivered from your pulpits. Let me then exhort you, my clerical 
 brethren, to catechise the children of your Sunday schools publicly 
 in the church during divine service, at least once a month, wherever 
 it can be done. If you will give as much time and attention to 
 the preparation of your catechistical instructions as you do to your 
 sermons, you will find that after a little while you will be able to 
 make this instruction not only very interesting to your young 
 people, but also to the older members of your congregations. I 
 have frequently heard the church people at Welland, both old and 
 young, speak with great satisfaction and gratitude of the late Rev. 
 John Stannege's catechising them. They said that they learned more 
 about the Bible, the Church and Prayer Book, from it than from 
 all the sermons they had heard during their whole lives. Of course 
 the practice I urge upon you would involve no little trouble, but 
 if it will be for the good of your people (as I am satisfied it will 
 be, if you do your best), you surely will not regard that. The 
 basis of your teaching should be the Church Catechism, which 
 sets forth most clearly, in a most wonderful manner, our great 
 privileges and duties, as covenant children of God — what we ought 
 to "believe and to do" as such ; both in relation to our duty to- 
 wards God ind to our fellow-creatures top. It teaches us, more- 
 
 MAR 1 2 1965 ^''^ ,, 
 
 HAMILTON PUBLIC l\mW 
 
 
3 
 
 '^,. 
 
 over, where we may obtain the assistance which we require to en- 
 able us to live as becomes the children of God. This catechism 
 should be enlarged upon, and its ditiferent points should be deeply 
 impressed on the minds and hearts ot your people. The Consti- 
 tution of the Church of Christ, of which they are all members, 
 should also be clearly explained to them They should be made 
 ot realize that the Church is a Divine Institution, and not one to 
 be constructed by the holiest and ablest of fallen Adam's race. It 
 may be profitable for us on this occasion to go back, in imagina- 
 tion, to the time when Christ established His Church on earth. 
 He had suffered on the accursed cross a ransom for the sins of 
 the world, He had arisen triumphant from the grave and appeared 
 to His disciples again. We are informed by St. John, (whose 
 Gospel supplies us with many things that had been unmentioned 
 by the other Evangelists) "that on one occasion soon after His re- 
 surrection, Jesus came to His disciples, unexpectedly, and said to 
 them : 'Peace be unto you, as my Father hath sent me, even so 
 send I you, and when he had said this He breathed on them and 
 said unto them, 'Receive the Holy Ghost, whosoever sins ye remit, 
 they are remitted ; whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained.' " 
 Before His ascension into Heaven the blessed Saviour met His 
 disciples by appointment in Galilee. He spent sometime with 
 them there, and conversed with them regarding the things pertain- 
 ing to the Kingdom of God ; that is (according to a Presbyterian 
 commentator) "He gave them instructions about the organization, 
 spread anr* edification of His Church," and closed his intercourse 
 with them oy asserting the possession of "all power in heaven and 
 on earth" and by giving them their commission to establish His 
 Church on earth, with the assurance that He would be with them 
 to the end ol the world : "And Jesus came and spake unto them, 
 saying. All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth, go ve 
 therefore and teach (or make disciples of) all nations, baptizing 
 them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy 
 Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have com- 
 manded you. Lo I am with you always, to the end of the world." 
 Here we have several very remarkable particulars — ist, the breath- 
 ing on His chosen Apostles, on those who had been His friends 
 and companions for three vears ; 2nd, His declaration, "As my 
 father hath sent me, so send I you ; " 3rd, His long intercourse 
 with the eleven in Galilee, where He gives them,(asis acknowledged 
 by all) instructions regarding His Church ; 4th, His claim to "all 
 power in heaven and on earth ;" 5th, His commission to establish 
 His Church ; 6th, His promise to be with that Church to the end 
 of the world. Here are a very great many important events in our 
 blessed Lord'slife, too great for anything less than the establishment 
 of His Church on earth. Why else did he breathe on His disci- 
 ples ? Why else did He say to them ? "As my father hath sent Me, 
 
so send I you." Why else did He converse so long a time with 
 them in Galilee, giving them, no doubt, full directions about the 
 establishment of His Church ? Why else did He assert that "all 
 power had been given unto him, both in heaven and on earth ?" 
 Why else did He so solemnly commission His disciples to plant 
 His Church on earth, and to initiate immortal beings into it by 
 baptising them in the names of the several persons of the eternal 
 Trinity ? And lastly, why else did he give them His gracious pro- 
 mise to be with them in this great work to the end of the world ? 
 Assuredly it was to mark in a most emphatic manner the great 
 event of the founding of His Church. Nothing short of such an 
 event was worthy of such important proofs of our blessed Lord's 
 interest in it ; and when we come to consider the importance of 
 the work committed to the Church for all time to come, even the 
 salvation of countless myriads of immortal souls, we can easily see 
 how entirely worthy of Christ's deepest interest it was. No sooner 
 had Christ left His disciples than they began the work that He 
 had left them to do, and the very first thing they did was to fill up 
 the number of the apostles, for, selecting two of the discipl*"= who 
 had been with Jesus during His ministry, they prayed, saying 
 "Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, show which of 
 these two thou hast chosen, that he might take part of this minis- 
 try and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that 
 he might go to his own place. "And they gave forth their lots, 
 and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered with the 
 eleven apostles." Remember that this was the first act of the 
 inspired apostles after Jesus had given them full directions about 
 His Church on earth. The very first thing they did was to fill up 
 their number, just as any corporate body sees that its number is 
 filled up on the death or resignation of one of its body. Who 
 can believe that the inspired apostles, in performing this their first 
 public act, did not carry out tlie very direciiom that they had re- 
 ceived from their ascended Lord ? And who can fail to see that by 
 filling up their "ministry and apostleship" they gave us an assurance 
 that that ministry and apostleship was to be continued in the Church 
 of Christ ? Having thus filled up their number they were in a 
 position to commence the work of proclaiming the glad tidings of 
 salvation, which they did on the great day of Pentecost, when there 
 were added to the infant church no less than 3,000 souls, the 
 Holy Ghost thus endorsing the acts of the apostles in filling up 
 their number. Here then, we have a corporate body fully es- 
 tablished, in full operation, and that corporate body the Church 
 of Christ ! Note especially that there was but one church, not 
 a dozen churches, but one Church. In a few years that church 
 was planted in many different lands, but it was still one and the 
 same CViurch ; for a Christian of those days, whenever he might 
 travel found himself at home. If he visited half a dozen cities in 
 
the course of his journeyings, he could present himself (if duly 
 certified) at any Lord's table and receive the sacrament of the 
 body and blood of his l)lessed Lord. He was not obliged to in- 
 (juire for the Church of his particular denomination, for, at that 
 time, there were no denominations of Christians. These are of 
 modern date. This is a fact, which, I believe, none will dispute, 
 and it is one well worthy of your most serious consideration. And 
 this blessed state of things continued till the separation of tht- 
 Eastern and Western branches of that Church in the ninth century. 
 Now these are /</<:/j, which our young people — nay, our old people, 
 t'jo — need to have taught to them. The ministry of that Church 
 has been handed down, from age to age, in a regular order, called 
 "the apostolical succession," so that I can give you a list of suc- 
 ceeding bishops from the days of the apostles till we come down 
 to the setting apart of your unworthy Bishop in St. Thomas' Church, 
 in this city, on the first day of May in the year of Grace, i8j^. 
 Many of our people believe that the Church of England began 
 under Henry VIII, and had no independent existence in England 
 till that period. This is a great mistake. The Church of England, 
 as a branch of the Church of Christ, existed from the first century 
 in Britain, just as other branches of the Church of Christ had ex- 
 isted in France, Spain, Italy, Macedonia, and many cities and 
 countries of Asia Minor. Some very learned writers contend that 
 St. Paul himself, when fulfilling his intention of going into Spain, 
 (mentioned in his epistle to the Romans,) went to "the uttermost 
 parts of the earth and the islands that lie in the ocean." It is, 
 moreover, certain that a branch of the Christian Church was 
 formed at a very early period in Britain, probably as early as the 
 apostles' times, for Tertullion, a Christian father who flourished 
 A. D. 190, thus testifies to the introduction of Christianity into 
 Britain : "Some countries of the Britians, which proved inaccessible 
 to the Romans, are subject to Christ," and again, "Britain lies 
 surrounded by the ocean. The Mauri and the barbarous Getulians 
 are blocked up by the Romans, lest they should extend the limits 
 of their countries. The Romans, with all their armies, are unable 
 to extend their empire beyond those nations ; whereas the Kingdom 
 of Christ and His name reach much further ; He is everywhere 
 believed in and worshipped by all the nations above-mentioned." 
 Origen, another father, who flourished in the third century, thus 
 writes : "When did Britain, before the coming of Christ, consent 
 to the worship of one God ?" This certainly intimates that in 
 his time the Britons were known to be Christians, and had, through 
 the profession of Christianity, been brought ofif from their former 
 idolatry. In the fourth century the eloquent Chrysostom thus 
 testified to the same truth : "The British Isles, situated beyond 
 the sea, lying in the very ocean, have felt the power ot the word, 
 for even there churches are built and altars are erected." And 
 
6 
 
 iigain, 'Into whatsoever church thou shalt enter, whether amonsst 
 the Moors, or the Persians, or the inhabitants of the Islands of 
 Britain, thou hearest John declaring 'It is not lawful for thee to 
 have thy brother's wife.'" That this was acknowledged by the 
 other brar.ches of the Christian Churches as a free and independent 
 branch, cannot be denied, for we find it represented in the Council 
 of Aries, in ^rance ; by Restitutus, Bishop of London ; Eborius, 
 Bishop of York, and Adelphius, Bishop of Lincoln. 'I'his Council 
 was held as early as the year A. D. 334. Again, we find the 
 British Bishops summoned, along with the Bishops of Gaul to the 
 Council of Sardica in 347, by Constantius. They were likewise 
 present at the Council of Arimonium. Now. from these indis- 
 putable facts it must be evident to all that at that very early period, 
 an independe It branch of the Church existed in Britain, just as 
 there were branches of the '^"hurch at Rome, at Cormth, etc. The 
 Church of Britain was then governed, as it is now, by its bishops, 
 who were in subjection to their archbishops as at present ; of whom 
 there were three, of London, York and Carleon-on-Usk. There 
 was no Church in Christendom founded by the apostles which had 
 not from them a succession of bishops, and these were in all pro- 
 vinces subject to a primate of their own number. Thus the 
 Bishop of Rome was at that time Primate of the middle and 
 southern parts of Italy, the Bishop of Milan, of the northern part ; 
 the Bishops of Jerusalem, Antiocli, and Alexandria, had the same 
 authority in some of the Eastern provinces. There was no Bishop 
 at Rome, or elsewhere, who, at that period, pretended to any au- 
 thority beyond his own diocese or province. The evidences of 
 the Church's existence in Britain crowd upon us as we advance 
 down the sti am of history. At length, in A. D. 596 — centuries 
 after the first establishment of the Church in Britain — Gregory, 
 surnamed the Great, Bishop of Rome, sent the celebrated 
 Augustine to preach the gospel to the Anglo-Saxons, who were 
 then pagans. Augustin found Bertha, Queen of Ethelbert, King 
 of Kent, a Christian, and by her his mission was favored. Ethelbert 
 himself was converted. Many of his subjects were baptized by 
 Augustine and his followers. Some years after his arrival in En- 
 gland Augustine took a journey to the Western countries whither 
 the British Church had been driven, and having asked for a con- 
 ference with it, was met on the banks of the Severn ^y seven 
 bishops and their most learned men from Bangor- Iscoed, the 
 chief nursery of the Church, and Dinoth, their Abbot. Augustine 
 made proposals to them to unite with him and his followers in the 
 wc»rk in which they were then engaged. But the terms of their 
 pioposal were such that an independent branch of the Church 
 like the British Church could not accede to. He proposed to 
 them to give up several of their established customs and to put 
 themselves in subjection to the Bishop of Rome. To this Dinoth 
 
mWi, 
 
 answered in these words : "lie it known without doubt unto you. 
 that we are all, every one of us, obedient and subject to the Church 
 of (iod, and to the I*ope of Rome, and to every one in his degree, 
 in perfect charity, to help every one of them, by words and deeds, 
 to be the children of (iod. Other obedience than this I do not 
 Unow as due to him whom ye name the Pope, nor to be Father of 
 Fathers, to be claimed and to be demanded, and this obedience 
 we are ready to give and to pay to him and to every Christian con- 
 tinually. Besides, we are under the government of the Bishop of 
 Carleon-on-Usk, who is to oversee, under God, over us, to cause 
 us to keep the life eternal." This surely, is the language of one 
 belonging to an independent branch of the Church, owing no sub- 
 jection whatever to Rome. Bede, the celebrated church historian, 
 tells us that the British Bishops would not acknowledge Augustine 
 as Archbishop over them. The British Church continued inde- 
 pendent of the Anglo-Saxon Church till the reign of Henry the 
 First, having a Metropolitan of its own at St. David's. And even 
 the Anglo-Saxon Church differed from the Bishop of Rome and 
 refused to acknowledge his authority ; an instance of which we 
 have in the case of Bishop Wilfred, who, having been ejected from 
 his see for some flagrant offences, applied to Rome and was sus- 
 tained by the Bishop of that lordly city, who wrote to Alfred to 
 reinstate him in his Bishopric. But Alfred, who reigned alone at 
 the time of his arrival in Britain, scorned to receive him, and ex- 
 pressed in no unmeasured terms his contempt for Papal rescripts. 
 The Church of England also showed herself slow to embrace the 
 innovations adopted by th-^ Church of Rome. Of this, I will men- 
 tion only one case out of many that might be given. In the year 792 
 a book was forwarded from the East to the Emperor Charlemagne 
 containing the decrees of a Greek Council, in favor of the religious 
 adoration of images. Charlemagne sent this work to the Bishops 
 of England requesting their judgment regarding it. All the 
 Bishops concurred in condemning this new doctrine, which they 
 declared the Church of Christ holds accursed, and they engaged 
 Albinus to write against it. He did so ; and writing in the name 
 and with the authority of the English Church, and using the 
 soundest scriptural arguments, notwithstanding that Adrian, the 
 Pope of that time, had approved of the idolatrous practice, he 
 effectually engaged Charlemagne to use his influence to check it. 
 In 794, Charlemagne called together a Council at Frankfort-on-the- 
 Maine, in which 300 Bishops solemnly condemned the doctrine of 
 the Greek Church and of the Popes, and thus prevented for a long 
 time afterwards the progress of error in Britain. But the civil 
 power in England, which was linked with the Romish party, proved 
 too strong for the British Church, and it became subjugated by it. 
 Early, however, in the i6th century, the Bishops and clergy of the 
 Church, acting in concert with the civil power which had then 
 
8 
 
 <|uarrclk'(i with the Pope, threw off the supremacy of tlic Popeiind 
 the other innovations that had been fotced upon her and stood 
 forth to the world once more an independent branch of the Church 
 of Christ, freed from the thraUlom of Rome and reheved from the 
 accumuhUed corrui)tion of centuries. Roman Catholics do not 
 deny that bffore the reformation, the Church of Kngland was a 
 Iminch of the Church of Christ ; but they say that she ceased to 
 be such when she threw off the usurpation of Rome and reformed 
 herself One might just as well contend, however, that when 
 Naaman washed seven times in Jordan and was cleansed of his 
 leprosy, he ceased to be a Syrian ; that he lost his post and 
 his privileges ; that he ceased to be a great man with his master 
 and honorable ; that he ceased to be captain of the host of the 
 King of Syria. One might just as well contend that a dissipated 
 magistrate ceases to be a magistrate when he throws off the thral- 
 dom of sin and becomes a reformed chai.icter. To adopt another 
 kind of illustration : It is well known that Napoleon Bonaparte, in 
 his career of conquests, overran the greater part of Europe, and 
 obtained the kingdom of Spain partly by stratagem and partly by 
 force of arms. The Spaniards never liked Joseph, whom his 
 brother made King of Spain. When, therefore, the P^nglish, under 
 the immortal Wellington, came to their assistance, the Spaniards 
 gladly united with them in driving out the usurper and restoring 
 the former royal family to the throne. Now, no one contends for 
 a moment that the kingdom of Spain was not identically the same 
 kingdom when freed from the presence of the French armies that 
 it was before they came to Spain, although, in the meanwhile, Spain 
 had been under the occupation of Bc^naparte. Nor, will any one 
 contend that the kingdom of France was not the same kingdom 
 when Louis XVIII. was established on his throne that it was when 
 governed by his grandfather, Louis XVI., although it had seen 
 great changes in the meanwhile, and few of the same men lived 
 and acted that had lived and acted before the bloody French revo- 
 lution ? Now, if this be so — and it cannot be denied — we may 
 surely believe the Church of England to be the same Church 
 that it was when represented in the Council of Aries, in France, 
 by the Bishops of London, York and Lincoln, although the usi rp- 
 ation of Rome and its accompanying errors subsequently prevailed 
 over it for many years. Length of time makes no difference in 
 the principle of this thing. If it be the same Church after an 
 usurpation of ten years, it is the same Church after an usurpation of 
 some hundreds of years. And so we cannot be guilty of the sin 
 of schism. Previous to this reformation (commenced in Henry the 
 VIII. 's reign) the Church of England had been a living branch of 
 the Church of Christ. It is true that, in the course of years, she 
 had lost a portion of her freedom and had been more or less in- 
 crusted with errors that had sprung up in the dark ages. Like the 
 
I) 
 
 other branches of the Church in the West, she had become dis- 
 fi;,'ured by errors of opinion, and by unscriptural practices. Hut 
 tlu sj, so far, were like excrescences on t le human body. They were 
 r.o part of her. They had in no way been incorporated with her. In 
 the good providence of (iod the tmie came at last when she was to be 
 reformed, and she did reform herself canomcally, regularly and 
 thoroughly. She removed the accumulated rubbish of centuries, as a 
 pure reformed branch of the Church of Christ ; but she remained the 
 same Church she was before, minus the rubbish. She retained the 
 same ministry that she had had from the Apostolic age, the old 
 creedsofthechurch, andshe rearranged her ritualon primitive models, 
 '•etainingall that was scriptural and ancient, and rejecting all that was 
 unscriptural and modern. She rejected the supremacy of the Pope, 
 transubstantiation, the worshipping of images, the invocation of 
 saints, purgatory, the denial of the cup to the laity, enforced 
 auricular confession to a priest, and the use of the liturgy in an 
 unknown tongue. The Church of England had the same creeds 
 then that she has now ; but she had errors, which she removed at 
 the reformation. These were not matters of faith even with the 
 Church of Rome at the time, and consequently not binding on the 
 consciences of her people. Most of ihem were mere opinions, 
 which might be held or not. The difference between the action 
 of the two branches of the Church consisted in this, that the Church 
 of England renounced all these erroneous opinions and unscriptural 
 practices, whilst the Church of Rome ntained them. The Pope 
 called together the Council of Trent, packed {as Sarpi, who was 
 one of the bish ^ps present at it, tells us) for his own purpose ; and 
 that Council df c'ared all those erroneous opinions to be articles of 
 faith, to be believed by all Christians as they regarded their souls' 
 salvation. P^ 5 act the Church of Rome was guilty of schism. 
 She added new u icles of faith to the old fundamental articles which 
 the whole Christian world had held from early times, and anathe- 
 matized all who would not accept these new articles of faith. And 
 to this day Romanists continue in this schism, requiring you and 
 all other Protestants to believe and to do things which, on their 
 own showing, they did not themselves demand of their people the 
 day before the Council of Trent tacked them to the old Creed, 
 each with its anathamas against unb^ievers. Romanists endeavor 
 to confuse the minds of people with regard to the Council of Trent. 
 ITiey call it a "general council;" that is, a council of all the Churches 
 of Christendom. But it was by no means such. It consisted 
 largely of those bishops who were under the immediate control of 
 the Pope, and who were ready to do his bidding. England, 
 Scotland, Ireland, and the whole Greek Church were unrepresented 
 there. It was no more a "general council" of the Church of Christ 
 than wao the conference at Lambeth I'alace in 1878, which I had 
 the great honor of attending. And in regard to the opinions which 
 
10 
 
 'I 
 
 were for the first time declared to be "articles of faith binding 
 upon all men," some few Romish writers assert that they were 
 always held in the Church. This is, however, generally acknow- 
 ledged not to have been the case. But even if they had been so, 
 no Council like that of Trent had a right to make them articles of 
 faith or communion. Recent events in the Romish Church throw 
 much light on the action of that Council. In 1854 the Church of 
 Rome decreed the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary ; 
 and in 1870 the infallibility of the Pope. The received faith of 
 all Christians up to '854 was, that Christ a/one. wsls bom without 
 sin. The most deluded Romanist, who knows anything about the 
 'matter, will not deny that. And the Church of Rome, as a Church, 
 held the same. But so greatly had the worship of the Virgin 
 grown up amongst Romanists that many of them felt it necessary 
 to claim for her a sinless immaculate conception. Up, however, 
 to 1854 the idea of her having been so born was merely an opinion 
 amongst the more devoted of her worshippers. Some learned 
 doctors advocated the claim ; others wrote against it. It was a 
 question of opinion only. A man might write against it as 
 earnestly as he choose, yet die a good son of the Church ; perhaps 
 be canonized after death. But in 1854 the Pope called together 
 a Council, which be declared to be a "General Council," but which 
 was nothing of the kind, and that Council declared that the Virgin 
 Mary waii conceived without sin, added that to the new articles of 
 fiaith which had been added to the ancient creeds by the Council 
 of Trent, and excommunicated all who called in question the 
 Virgin's immaculate conception. The day before the decree of 
 the Council was passed, a man might have written a book against 
 it without any fault being found with him ; the day after he was as 
 much bound to believe it as he was bound to "believe in God the 
 Father Almighty." At least, so the Church of Rome holds. Thus, 
 from time to time, has that Church presumed to add new doctrines 
 to the older accepted creeds of Christianity. Thus again in 1870, 
 "The Council of the Vatican" decreed that the Pope of Rome is 
 infallible, and that all true sons and daughters of the Church are, 
 since the promulgation of that new doctrine as an article of the 
 faith, bound to believe it, whether they are convinced of its truth 
 or not, on pain of eternal condemnation. The day betore that 
 dogma was formulated they might believe it or not ; the next day 
 they were deprived of that right. As many of you doubtless re- 
 member, the enactment of that dogma as an article of faith was 
 long and bitterly opposed by seventy of the ablest and most learned 
 bishops from all parts of the globe, who argued most ably and 
 earnestly that such a dogma was not to be founa in the sacred 
 Scriptures or in the writings of the primitive Church, but that it 
 was diametrically opposed thereto; but th. Pope who as a man, 
 
 II 
 
11 
 
 had his heart set upon securing that position for himself, oarried 
 it chiefly through the great number of Italian Bishops whom he 
 had summoned to the Council. Now, these so-called "General 
 Councils"' did (or pretended, rather, to do) what no Council has 
 the right to do, viz., impose on me and you terms of communion 
 which had been unknown in the Church of Christ for a thousand 
 years. When they did this they built a wall in the sight of men 
 and of angels, which separated themselves from me and you and 
 the outside world ; and thus they became schismatics. I claim, 
 on the other hand, that the Church of England and the Churches 
 in communion with her are the only bodies (with the exception of 
 the Syrian Church of St. Thomas in India) which have not added 
 new doctrines to the old doctrifies of tlu apostles^ times ; therefore are 
 the onl;, Churches that have not broken the unity of the Spirit. 
 The position of the Church of England in the middle of the six- 
 teenth century was no more nor less than that held by the Church 
 of Christ from the first. She required then, and she requires still 
 (as has been well remarked) of all who would enter her fold or 
 seek communion with her, only the faith as it is expressed in the 
 old creeds of the Church, All other matters she leaves (as always 
 did the early Church) to free discussion amongst her members, to 
 the effect of a scriptural worship and the administration of the two 
 sacraments instituted by Christ himself, aided by the constant 
 reading of the pure word of God in all the assemblies of her saints. 
 But this position occupied by the Church did not satisfy some of 
 her members. The mental activity of the times turned almost 
 exclusively on religious matters and almost every one had his own 
 favorite views and notions. Some contended that the Church had 
 not gone far enough, that she was only half reformed, that she 
 ought to have done as the reformers on the continent and as 
 Scotland had done, who had destroyed the Church instead of 
 merely reforming it In fact, they wanted her to do just what the 
 Church of Rome had done — to adopt new dogmas and to institute 
 new confessions of faith. This she would not do. She felt that 
 she had the deposit of the faith handed down from apostolic times, 
 pure and unadulterated, and she was determined to tack nothing 
 to the old Christian rules ; she was determined to have nothing 
 added to the old creeds of Christianity. Others might admire — 
 and, if they pleased, adopt — the new-fangled notions ; but it was 
 her duty to hand down to posterity the old creeds and the old 
 practices as she had received them from the apostolic age. Finding 
 her thus steadfast in her principles and resolute in carrying them 
 out, they separated from her ; they broke the unity of the Church 
 of Christ as far as they could, and were guilty of the sin of schism. 
 They set up their own confessions of faith ; they proclaimed their 
 new dogmas, and called upon all good people everywhere to "come 
 
\l 
 
 12 
 
 out of the Church of England and to join the saints of the living 
 God." Thus began the first great schism from the Church of 
 England because she denied the faith once for all delivered to the 
 saints, or because she had added anything thereto, or because she 
 had lost the sacraments, o. because she did not set forth righteous- 
 ness, or charity towards men or holiness towards God. The chief 
 reasons alleged for this ;-,chism were that she did not adopt the 
 creed and government set up in Geneva by John Calvin, of which 
 they had become quite enamoured ; that her clergy wore surplices, 
 and that her churches had bells in their steeples outside of them, 
 and organs and stained glass inside of them. This schism gave 
 birth to many others, until it was justly remarked, that "as schism 
 had been their parent, so superstition amongst their followers 
 would become their destruction." I don't wish to call in question 
 the sincerity or the honesty of these men, but it seems to me that 
 they greatly erred in being guilty of the sin of schism in leaving 
 the Church for such trivial reasons ; and now that bells in steeples 
 and steeples themselves and stained glass in their windows are no 
 longer offensive to them, and since !hey have unquestionably drifted 
 so far from their original standard, they should return to the 
 Church which their forefathers left for such trivial reasons. In 
 these days men separate from their brethren, apparently without 
 any idea that they are doing anything wrong, much less anything 
 sinful, and the consequence is that we have on this continent luUy 
 200 sects, differing from one another on some utterly unimportant 
 points of doctrine or of practice — on points often arising from 
 erroneous interpretation of Scripture, made by persons ignorant of 
 the original languages in which the Bible was written. In this 
 respect Protestant denominations around us occupy the very same 
 position the Romanists do. They stand apart from us and from 
 one another on account of things which were unknown to the 
 Church of Christ for at least 1,000 years, and which they have 
 made essential to their several denominations, but which, at the 
 same time (when closely pressed) they acknowledge are not of the 
 essetitials of religion. Their distinctive prin iples are things added 
 to the simple faith and practices of the earliest and purest ages of 
 Christianity. Those of them who are orthodox acknowledge the 
 old creeds of the Church, but have added some things which those 
 who desire to join their communion must accept. They have set 
 up terms of communion utterly unknown in primitive times. For 
 a thousand years all the Church required was repentance towards 
 God and adherents to the three creeds. My argument, that at ihe 
 time oi the reformation, the Church of England returned to the 
 purity of the Apostolic Age, is greatly strengthened by a discovery 
 made by Dr. Claudius Buchanan, a missionary of our Church, in 
 the year 180I. As the discoveries of Layard in Nineveh have 
 
13 
 
 greatly confirmed the statements contained in the Old Tes- 
 tament, so has Dr. Buchanan's discovery of a remnant ot the Church 
 of St. Thomas in India confirmed the claims of our Church to the 
 Church of Christ in this land. Having heard some very indistinct 
 accounts of this body of Christians living on the mountains back 
 from the coast of Malabar in India, he visited them the first year 
 of this century. He found them in great poverty. He examined 
 their records, which convinced him of their claims to be the lineal 
 descendants of those who had been converted by St. Thomas the 
 apostle. They assured him that in the long intervening centuries 
 they had no intercourse with western Christians. They had heard 
 not a word of the division of the eastern and western branches of 
 the Church, nothing of the claims of the Pope of Rome to be God 
 and vicegerent on earth ; nothing of the discovery of the unseen 
 world ; nothing of the reformation. They had been born, and 
 lived and died in wonderful seclusion from the outer world. All 
 their documents were in manuscript, but carefully preserved, and 
 he left them without a single doubt on his mind regarding the 
 entire truth of their statements. He found them with a written 
 Bible, carefully copied out in Syrian, with a written liturgy, with 
 three orders of the ministry — bishops, priests and deacons. They 
 had two sacraments only — baptism and the Lord's supper. They 
 confirmed their young, who had been baptized as infants. They 
 knew nothing about iransubstantiation, purgatory, the sacrifice of 
 the mass, invocation of saints, worshipping of images, prayers for 
 the dead. 1 hey had ne, er heard of the Pope ; consequently they 
 knew nothing of papal indulgences or papal infallibility. When 
 spoken to about the Pope, they asked who he was ? When told 
 that there were several different bodies of Christians in Europe, 
 holding no communion with one another, they remarked that 
 "there must be something wrong there." In short, there is no 
 point in which we differ from Rome, on the one hand, and from 
 Protestant denominations on the other hand, in which they did 
 not differ too. Their doctrines on all essential points were the 
 same as ours. These facts are all stated in Dr. Claudius Buchanan's 
 unabridged edition cf his "Christian Researches in India," pub- 
 lished in the early part of this century. It has always, since I first 
 heard of these facts, now more than fifty years ago, been a source 
 of astonishment to me that our clergy have not dwelt more upon 
 tfum than they have done. I feel, my clerical brethren, that the 
 argument? I have brought forward regarding the foundation, growth, 
 preservation and reformation of our Church, ought to be known to 
 all our people young and old. And how are they to learn them, 
 unless they are taught them ? And who are to teach them but 
 yourselves ? Verily, I believe that we are guilty in regard to this 
 matter. 
 
ii 
 
 II 
 
 • \ * 
 
 14 
 
 Other bodies of Christians around us are not so much afraid of 
 teaching their* principles as we have been in times past. A 
 clerical friend sent me some weeks ago clippings containing "an 
 appeal from the Baptist Publication Society," and also a scrap 
 from a Presbyterian newspaper. The Baptist Publication Society's 
 appeal is in part to the follo"?eing effect : "We do not make any 
 appeal merely to secure your patronage for the Publication Society, 
 however desirable we may and do consider that patronage to be. 
 Our appeal is on behalf oi principles, which, we believe, to be more 
 important than any society or person. We desire to see those 
 principles maintained, and the next generation so rooted and 
 grounded in them so that nothing can ever move them from the 
 truth. We regard the Sabbath School as affording a grand oppor- 
 tunity for the cultivation and instruction of both young and old, 
 which we must improve to the fullest possible extent, in order that 
 there may be growth and strength in every Baptist Sabbath School 
 and Church. It will not do for us to assume that the children 
 cannot be taught the doctrine. We must remember that the hof)e 
 of the Church lies in the good, thorough work of the present, in 
 order that the youth of to-day may be fitted to be the strong 
 pillars in our Lord's Church of the future. See how these funda- 
 mental doctrines crop out in the lessens of every quarter, and 
 consider how necessary it is for them to be understood and 
 thoroughly taught. Our churches (/. e. congregations) are sometimes 
 disaffected by appare' *.'" trivial causes. If the teaching work oi 
 these churches had been done in an efficient manner such results 
 might have been impossible. We need to have a reason for our 
 faith, and we need to be able to give the reason when it is called 
 for. This condition is not attainable by the use of lesson ma- 
 terials, which either ignores or perverts the • truth, as we hold it. 
 We need not abate any effort for the conversion of souls ; but 
 with that we need to round out the Christian character of our peo- 
 ple. Training gives strength, and we shall fail to do our duty if 
 we neglect the training of the young." These, brethren, are 
 weighty and wise words ; and are as applicable to the teaching our 
 distinctive principles to our people, young and old, as they are to 
 the teaching of the distinctive principles of the Baptists. Let, 
 then, every clergyman, every Sunday School teacher, every parent 
 and every sponsor lay them to heart Again at a Presbyterian 
 Sabbath School Conference held a few months ago, -.vithin the 
 bounds of this Diocese, resolutions on this subject were unanimous- 
 ly adopted, from which the following are extracts : "This Conference 
 is convinced that in the Sabbath School a place should be given 
 and every opportunity should be embraced which is presented by 
 the course of lessons studied, and the use of the Shorter Catechism, 
 for instructing our young people, both as regards doctrine and our 
 
15 
 
 form of government ; and the Conference is sati:fied, from the 
 reports that have been received, that the teaching cf these princi- 
 ples is not omitted and would express their judgment that yet 
 more should be given them," And here I would express the great 
 gratification I received from learning, whilst in England last year, 
 how eminently successful "The Sunday School Convention," held 
 in this city, was — far exceeding the most sanguine expectations of 
 its originators. To my brother who so ably presided, to those who 
 kept up its life and spirit so very ably, and to the teachers who 
 attended it, many of them coming long distances lo do so, I feel 
 deeply indebted. Should it be the wish of the members of the 
 Synod that we should hold a similar one in October next, I would 
 be very happy, in compliance with such a request made to me to 
 call one. But to return to my statement. I learned lately that 
 the Rev. Dr. Vincent, of New York, at a Sunday school convention 
 recently held in Toronto by the Wesleyan Methodists, said that 
 "the children in Sabbath Schools should be taught their distinctive 
 principles, in order that they might be able to contend against the 
 arguments of other religious bodies ; for that he had found when 
 they had no distinctive convictions they wc'e waverers and wan- 
 derers, acknowledging no denominational allegiance." Again an 
 able writer in the Canadian Independent says : "Let us endeavour 
 to break up this spirit of rampart independency. In order to win 
 victories we must adopt for our watchwords 'Organization, Order, 
 Co-operation.' We must sacrifice self-will for Christ's kingdom. 
 We must, too, make more of our Church order. Prominent men, 
 both ministers and laymen, amongst us have sometimes boasted 
 that they were 'not denominationalists.' Now, while bigotry is 
 abominable, there is a spurious liberality which is mischievous. 
 To say that I am 'not a denominationalibt' sometimes means 'I 
 don't care whether I am a Congregationalist, or a Methodist, or 
 a Presbyterian.' Churches wholly of such materials would soon 
 become extinct as such. We have no right to remain separate, 
 unless we can give a reason for our existence as a separate body." 
 We know that other bodies around us are acting on these principles 
 and I do not blame them for so doing. If they believe that they 
 are right they are, in my opinion, bound to do so. Are we then 
 aione through a wretched timidity, or a nervous dread of being 
 called exclusive or narrow-minded, to allow our children to grow up, 
 in utter ignorance of our distinctive principles, of our grand history 
 of our "apostolic succession" and our double witness against the 
 false doctrines, the heresies and schism of Rome on the one hand, 
 and the false doctrines, errors and schism of modern denominations 
 on the other hand ? I trust not. Faithfulness to what we consider 
 to be the truth demands a very different course from us. 
 
' f 
 
 '1 1. 
 
 1 
 # 
 
 1 1' 
 
 1 1 
 
 I 
 
 16 
 
 INSTRUCTION AS TO THE EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITV. 
 
 ' Though I have detained you already longer than usual on these 
 occasions, yet there is still one subject so very important, on 
 which I feel bound to treat, and as this may be the last time I may 
 be a>er privileged to address you from this place, I trust you will 
 bear with me a little longer. This is an age abounding with 
 scepticism and infidelity, and the propagators thereof are most 
 active. I may be mistaken, but I do not fhink that I ever heard 
 of a person going about a country lecturing openly in favor of 
 infidelity for gain until I heard of Col. Robert Ingersoll doing so, 
 and making more money by his lectures than the lecturers in favor 
 of morality and religion make by theirs. And I was shocked the 
 other day to read in one of the great Toronto dailies a statement, 
 boldly made by one of its correspondents, who wrote over the 
 signature of "Agnostic," that "the story of the creation, the story 
 of Eden, the origin of evil, the ^ood, the miraculous deliverances 
 of the Isiaelites, and a host of other fables and fictions, are not 
 only worn out, but have been abandoned by the best minds in the 
 Church itself" I do not believe a word of it, because I know 
 better. But, when such bold assertions iire frequently made in 
 respectable newspapers, which come daily into our families and 
 are read by the young thereof ; when it is boasted that an infidel 
 work published in Toronto has gone to a second edition in less 
 than a year, it becomes our clergy to see to it that our people are 
 taught the grounds on which we believe the Bible to be the word 
 of the living God. I believe that there is more of scepticism in our 
 congregations than is generally supposed. There is in every con- 
 gregation, especially amongst the males, persons upon whom all 
 the appeals of the pulpit or in priva*^? interviews make no impression 
 whatever. They are not confirmed sceptics, perhaps, much less 
 are they open and avowed infidels ; but Satan has filled their minds 
 with such doubts that they are not prepared to take their stand on 
 the Ix)rd's side. The clergyman who has to deal with such persons 
 was never himself harrassed in this way, and cannot, therefore, 
 understand their real condition. Again, there are thousands of 
 young men who are ill-formed, and who are by Satan kept inactive. 
 They are influenced by arguments puerile in the extreme, and so 
 feeble that those better informed could never imagine that they 
 could influence anyone. I cannot help believing that our system 
 of public school education (entirely divorced as it is from religion) 
 is pandering largely to this evil. The cultivation of the intellect 
 is the great object aimed at in our public schools, the thing placed 
 continually before the pupils in them, as ^At one thing ntedful^ whilst 
 the cultivation of the heart and conscience is entirely overlooked. 
 It was a wise saying of the great Duke of Wellington, that "if you 
 cultivate the intellect to the neglect of the heart you only make a 
 
17 
 
 man the greater devil." The democratic spirit o» the age- -when 
 most men feel themselves wiser, certainly moie highly educated, 
 than their fathers were — tends in the same direction. They are 
 more apt than their fathers were to take objections to establish 
 things. They are unwilling to take things as much on trust as 
 their fathers were. Because their fathers believed the Bible to be 
 the revelation from God to man is no reason for them. They want 
 to "judge for themselves" in this as in other matters. Now, my 
 brethren, there is no use trying to contend against this current. 
 The best way is to recognize and to be prepared for it. I believe 
 that you should give your people full instruction in regard to the 
 Bible being the Word of God, so that when ihe gainsayer brings 
 to bear upon any one of them his plausible objections, he may find 
 them not only well grounded in the faith, but also well able to give 
 a reason for the hope that is in them. You should instruct thern 
 as to the genuineness, authenticity, uncorrupted preservation and 
 inspiration of the Holy Scriptures ; including among other things 
 a full investigation of the testimony from profane writers as to the 
 fulfilment of prophecy to the very letter. You should adduce the 
 evidences afforded by miracles to the inspiration of the Scriptures, 
 and by the internal evidences furnished to the same effect, by the 
 sublimity and excellence of the doctrines, and by the purity of the 
 moral precepts of the Bible. You should show them the remarkable 
 harmony that exists between the different parts of the Bible, and 
 the proofs of its tendency to promote the present and eternal 
 happiness of mankind, as furnished by an historical review of the 
 beneficial effects actually produced in every age and in every 
 country when the Bible has been cordially received and its precepts 
 acted on ; together with a refutation of the objections that have 
 been made against the Ccriptures by sceptical infidel writers in 
 modern times. These things should be made plain and level to 
 the understanding of your people. This, I believe, to be the best 
 way to prevent injury being done to your people by sceptical and 
 infidel publications, lectures and conversations in their houses, 
 in shops, in bar-rooms and other places of public resort. Lay the 
 foundations deep, strong and firm, and then you need not fear what 
 sceptics can do with your people. They will be able to answer 
 them, as an aged Christian friend told me he answered such : "I 
 may not be able to answer all youi objections, but, having been 
 well instructed in those matters, I know the Bible to be the word 
 of the living God." But be very careful to make your arguments 
 so clear and convincing that the youngest and most ignorant of 
 of your hearers may understand you. Clear, distinct, positive in- 
 struction is imperatively demanded at the present time. It never 
 was more demanded than now. The old times of the early apol- 
 ogists are upon us. If .the faith was worth defending in their days, 
 
u 
 
 it is worth defending now. St. Jude tells us that we are to *'coNfffiff 
 earnestly for that faith." These are strange times, perilous times, 
 in which we are living ; times which are trying and will try men's 
 souls to the uttermost. What the Church of Christ has now to 
 meet are insidious evils ; forms of error, under such specious gtiises, 
 as Satan himself, transformed into an angel of light, knows well 
 how to present. More dangerous these perils are than open per- 
 secution, because they address themselves to those human 
 weaknesses where man is most likely to be overcome. The modern 
 press has risen to be an almost irresistible power, and you should 
 do your best to control it in religious matters. It gives shape to 
 public opinion. It dictates even to the pulpit, and has assumed 
 in some cases the guardianship of the faith. This is not all ! 
 Religious error is much more prevalent amongst us than many 
 imagine. Has not, then, tAg Church something, very much, to do 
 in behalf of her sons and daughters in such an age and times like 
 these ? Should she not teach them — teach them faithfully — what 
 are the elementary principles of the faith of Christ and of the 
 Church of Christ ? Is there any cause for wonder or surprise if, 
 when she neglects such instruction, her sons and daughters should 
 be the victims of Romanism on the one hand and of scoffing and 
 infidelity on the other hand ? I feel perfectly sure that if our clergy, 
 by diligent study would make themselves able to meet all the ob- 
 jections of those sceptically inclined, and would kindly visit any 
 amongst their people whom they suspect to be even slightly affec- 
 ted by scepticism at their houses and talk kindly, but earnestly, 
 with them on the subject, they would receive their warmest 
 gratitude and be the means of preventing immortal souls from 
 going headlong to perdition. It is just as much your duty to do 
 this, my brethren, as it is your duty to visit those suffering from 
 bodily ailments. The laity of the Church are calling for this pos- 
 itive, distinct Church teaching. If the Church has a foundation 
 to stand on, they want to know what that foundation is. More 
 than this an intelligent conviction as to the claims of the Church, 
 a firm belief that she is the body that Christ himself appointed for 
 the conversion of the world, is an indispensable means for the en- 
 kindling of an earnest zeal on her behalf, and for unsealing the 
 fountains of an overflowing liberality. Our people have means 
 ample for all our wants. But we cannot reach their hearts and 
 consciences ; we cannot call forth their gifts for the needs of the 
 Diocese in any other way than by plain and honest dealing. It 
 is downright madness to cast distrust upon the Church's claims to 
 our loyalty and devotion. But lastly, let uie press upon you, one 
 and all, the absolute necessity of cultivating a spirit of holiness in 
 your own souls, if you are to influence the world around you. 
 If Churchmen in their daily lives and conversations, in their duty 
 
/ 
 
 ft 
 
 19 
 
 to Ciod, and in their intercourse with their fellow men, would live 
 up to the spirit of their prayer book ; if they would only reflect in 
 their lives the purity, holiness, entire devotion to God's service 
 which pervades the collects and other prayers that they use in 
 church, great would be our progress and amazing our influence. 
 See to it, then, dear brethren of the clergy, that you lead those 
 committed to your care along the narrow way of life, and oh, dear 
 brethren v.; the laity, walk in that way, through (lod's grace, to 
 your life's end. 
 
 w*-' 
 
 •4 
 
 HAMILTON PUBLIC LIBRARY